Where To Look When Playing Pool | Pool School 

Yeah! Its true with those eyes. On how to aim, where to look. The ghost ball. Im learning here.

blahtoausername yes definitely. If you are looking at the contact point then that is not on the shot line. The shot line runs from the center of the cue ball to the center of the ghost ball. The contact point could be up to half a balls width away from this on a fine cut.

I’m not saying you HAVE to look 👀 in this way and there are others that believe you should look at the cue ball. There is even a difference of opinion between professionals. However from my personal experience, when I switched from looking at the cue ball to the point of aim it transformed my game completely. To start with I went backwards a little and it felt wrong, but that’s mainly because I’d been doing it differently for so long. However once my brain became accustomed to it, my aim was a million times better.

@@PoolSchool Fair enough. Thank you for clarifying that for me. I am really looking forward to trying it out the next time I get to a table and practice.

@@marshallmaynor9224 How's the progress going? I too spent my entire pool playing life looking at the cue ball last. I switched to looking at the object ball last about 12 years ago. However when I'm shooting using extreme draw I look at the cue ball last as I miscue less often when doing that. Also with the cue ball and object ball are very close together I look at cue ball last as well. I don't think there's anything wrong with looking at the cue ball last. It may even help people to strike the cue ball exactly where they want and help them stroke straight through it. Once you're down on the shot with the correct aim/shot line locked in, the most important part is being able to deliver a straight consistent stroke. If looking at the cue ball last gives you a straighter stroke, then do that. Go with whichever one gives you a straighter consistent stroke.

@@Derek_1111 I can see some improvements no doubt. I found as you mentioned on draw shots or close object balls looking at the cue ball last helps me from miscuing as much. But I can see some good improvements overall. Unfortunately I haven't been to the pool hall in a few weeks. I want to get in there and get some work done.

Tried it and fk me it works like a charm. Can you do a video on shot selection? This is an area of my game that needs improving. I'm guessing this just comes with time ?

jamie .walker thank you, really appreciated.

Cheers, never intended it to be funny, but does make me chuckle when I watch it back!

@@PoolSchool it’s like live action Simpsons!

Excellent glad it helps

@@PoolSchool yeah sir is really helpful but the funny part is I beat ppl in bars in pool 🤣

😂

You're correct the pause is important when it comes to delivering the cue in a straight line, but it has many benefits. It encourages the player to stay still on the shot, it stops the player from rushing the shot, it helps with timing and accelerating through the shot and it gives time for the eyes to fully focus as discussed in this video. For me it's a vital part of the cue delivery and there are many reasons to do it.

Doesnt really explain why many of the all time greats and current top players do not pause…. It’s good for some, not for others.

Haha! poor man!

When I first started playing I used to look at the cue ball. It wasn't until I started trying to take the game more seriously and improve that I discovered you should be looking at your point of aim when you deliver the cue. When I first started to try this is felt very unnatural because I'd spent so long doing it differently. I really struggled with it and for a little while my game went backwards a bit. However once I'd trained my subconscious to do it naturally I started to see huge improvements in my accuracy and potting ability. It's definitely something I would recommend changing, even if it feels a bit odd at first.

Thanks for the advice

@@PoolSchool Interesting. I look at the cueball last. Whenever I try to look at the object ball last I miss the shot because I'm not focused on where I'm striking the cueball. How I look at it is you aim thicker if u are using outside English because of throw especially with an ld shaft. If I accidentally hit center ball I miss the shot. If I precisely strike the spin I make the shot. Any tips on how to practice the object ball last?

I went through exactly the same thing. I always looked at the cue ball and thought I was doing ok. When I discovered I should be looking at where I was aiming I was unconvinced. It felt uncomfortable and for a significant period I was sure it was making me worse. However this was only because I wasn’t used to it. Once I got comfortable with it, it made a huge difference to my game, so it’s definitely worth persevering with.

@@PoolSchool this unrelated but how big of room do you need to get a pool table, I want one in my front room but unsure of how big of a room you need for one

Thank you. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Some people do like to use two cues and have a slightly heavier breaking cue but I've never felt the need for it myself.

😂 Valid point! Doesn’t matter where you look if everything is aligned properly. Problem is it’s just human nature to adjust things ever so slightly as you feather back and forth. Looking at the ghost ball, pausing and focusing on delivering the cue towards that point is just the best way (in my opinion) to successfully deliver the cue along that line. There are others that think that looking at the cue ball is the better way to do it. There are professionals using both techniques so you can’t really argue one over the other.

I’m afraid I don’t know that game so couldn’t say. As I’ve said to other in the comments, not everyone looks at the point of aim, some look at the cue ball. I personally think it is better to look at the point of aim (which could be a point on the cushion), but not everyone agrees.

@@PoolSchool thanks pool school. And by the way great lesson the best I have seen about this topic.

Lots of people pause at both the cue ball and that's fine as long as you pause on the back swing as well. With the eyes I like to flick between the two so that you don't lose sight of where you are aiming. If you focus too long on the cue ball then it's easy to lose your aim point when you go back. A quick pause is probably fine but if you find you are losing the poinnt of aim when you go back, just maybe make the look at the cue ball a bit quicker.

@@PoolSchool noted sir will do so🙌🔥

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one.

I’m afraid I couldn’t really comment on a medical condition as I don’t know enough about it. Obviously eye problems can make things very difficult though.

@@PoolSchool No problem. Maybe think it this way: I have 2 visions when you and all normal vision people have one unified. So my eyes have individual image (affects how i see depth but that i can deal with) and obviously other is slighly left and other slightly right where your vision is in middle. Now my question is: Should I play with my head tilted to get my "good eye"(the other one, same always) on line with the cue and elbow and right leg? Im not expecting expert advice here, but I bet you can shuffle this thing in your mind to provide educated quess (as pool instructor) coz you know about playing pool more than I do.

No. If you are struggling to hit the cue ball in the right spot then your cue action is not right and you need to work on that first. Your fundamentals must be solid but once you are doing these properly then you must look where you are aiming if you want any sort of success with potting.

@@PoolSchool I gotta figure out what I’m doing wrong then cause my fundamentals are pretty good. I aim before I get down and step into my shot, back leg stays straight to help with no jumping up, loose grip, shoot through the ball. But still missing balls way to often, I started looking at the cue last before pulling the trigger and my shot making jumped up substantially.

When you change something in your game it's quite common to get worse before you get better because it just feels so unatural. I certainly did when doing this for the first time. Trust me though, it will improve your potting if you stick with it. Try doing this drill whilst doing it ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bkrdU1aVgs8.html you don't need to worry whether you are looking at the right spot for the ghost ball because it's in a dead straight line. Any little imperfections in your cueing will show up doing this. Slightly off and the object ball won't come back straight. If it's not coming back straight and you can't tell why, then try and video yourself from a couple of angles in slow motion (doing this shot). Hopefully then you can see if something is not right.

@@PoolSchool maybe I worded that wrong but my shot making jumped up substantially when looking at cue ball last. Saw big improvement. The rest of my game will struggle till I get used to it and yes thanks for the link, I do a drill where I shoot in a shot using the entire length of the table and I follow the cue ball in the pocket with the object ball, I usually get it after a few tries but got it first try the other night when looking at cue ball last

Ha! Would love to, might be a bit of a journey for us to get together though!

@@PoolSchool you guys can make it happen. DrDave is down. He always answers and he is cool.

Stefan Totev it’s a difficult one, I don’t wear glasses myself so can’t really comment. My mate in my pool team wears glasses so I’ll ask him how he deals with it.

You need some Dennis Taylor "upside down" glasses!

9mm I use these amzn.to/2YH0Kgw

😂👀

I'll be honest with you I didn't realise any professionals did it that way, but your absolutely right, it appears some of them do. I was always told that you should look at the object ball (where you're aiming) and it always felt right to me. I know that Barry Stark for example (a coach who works a lot with Kyren Wilson) is adamant that you should always be looking at the object ball when you deliver the cue, and I have always had huge respect for his opinions. However a player of John Higgins level clearly can't be wrong either! The only thing I would say is watching John Higgins closely you can see him lift his head ever so slightly as he moves his eyes from the cue ball to the object ball just after he delivers it. It's this urge to move during delivery that has always made me believe that it is better to look at the point of aim instead. It clearly doesn't cause him any problems though! Obviously everyone has different ways of doing things and no player or coach can always be 100% correct on everyway they have of doing things. Thanks for pointing this out though and it's certainly something I'll look into further.

This is a hugely debated topic and one there is no definitive answer to. There are plenty of examples of professional pool and snooker players that do different things with their eyes. Some focus on the cue ball, others on the point of aim. Looking at the point of aim feels natural for me and is the method I would advocate but that doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. Everyone is different. If you try to change from one to the other (having done one thing for a long time) you will definitely be worse to start with.

Cricket is completely different because the ball is moving and coming towards you. It is difficult to find a good analogy because a cue stroke is different to any other sport. The reason I choose darts is because of the fact you are delivering your arm towards a target. This is one of those things that does split opinion. There are professional snooker players who look at the cue ball when they strike it but I would say the majority fix their eyes on the target. It’s very difficult to see but try watching the professionals head on and you’ll see what I mean.